It is well known that automobiles when standing unprotected out of doors during cold and stormy weather particularly when parked for extended periods or during the night accumulate snow and ice when the weather is productive of snow, rain or sleet during freezing temperatures. It is also well known that such accumulations so impair the visibility of the driver that it is unsafe to drive an automobile having such accumulations and that accordingly it becomes necessary to remove such accumulations before driving the automobile is undertaken.
Inasmuch as the removal of ice and similar accumulations from the glass surfaces of the windshields and windows of automobiles is often very difficult to successfully achieve within a reasonable time it is recognized as desirable to prevent, if possible, the occurrence of such accumulations in the first place.
To this end various types of covers have been proposed in the past but as far as this applicant knows none of the prior devices has been sufficiently satisfactory to be adopted for general use. Such prior art devices have been either too complicated or expensive and in most instances have been too difficult and time consuming to install to permit their wide spread adoption and use.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide protective covers for the windshields and side and back windows of automobiles which are simple in construction, are highly efficient in use and which can be installed by procedure which is easy and relatively quick to perform.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such protective covers which utilize a band or belt-like strip or cord, the ends of which are fastened together or otherwise fastened inside of the automobile and which extend outwardly between doors and their door frames respectively so, that when the doors are closed and locked the holding action of the doors and associated door frames serve to pinch and hold the holding strips or cords and thus provide additional holding action as well as render inaccessible the attached ends of the strips or cords. Devices so installed accordingly are protected against theft unless the strips or cords are damaged by cutting such as would impair their further use.
It is a further object to provide separate covers for the windshield, for each of the side windows and the rear window each of which can be separately applied and used independently of the others and all of which embody the same basic construction and can be installed for use by the same basic procedure.
More specifically it is an object of this invention to provide covers of the type referred to which comprise an elongated elastic band or strip which when applied to the windshield extends generally horizontally across the front of the windshield with its two ends extending one to each side and thence backwardly and inwardly to the inside of the automobile through the two opposite door openings and then fastened inside, preferably by attaching the two ends together and the band having threaded thereon a suitable cover piece or pieces of size and shape desired to cover the areas of the glass to be protected from snow or ice, and the cover piece of pieces being slidable along the band permitting it to be placed in its desired position after the band has been placed across the windshield and tightly held in the manner described.
It is contemplated that the invention when constructed in the manner above described and the ends of the band have been fastened inside of the automobile that the two doors be shut and locked so that the attachment of the band ends cannot be tampered with.
It is a further object of this invention to provide similarly constructed and installed bands and covers for each side window and for the rear window of the automobile and in each case to provide a horizontally disposed band across the glass of the window to be protected with a suitably shaped cover threaded on and slidably adjustable horizontally thereon and with the ends of the band extending around the side edges of a window glass in the case of a side window and around the rear portion of the automobile to the nearest door openings in the case of a rear window and thence into the inside of the automobile where the ends of the band are fastened to each other in a manner to hold the cover tightly against the outside of the window glass and at the proper horizontal level to place the cover in the desired position.
It is a further object of this invention to provide protective covers of the type above referred to which when applied to covers for the side windows may in addition be provided with attached holding means adapted to extend downwardly between the outside surface of the glass of the window and the inside surface of the door housing, so positioned and constructed as to provide a depending lower portion of the cover in the nature of a skirt in position to shield the space between the window glass and the door housing to prevent the flow of water and snow and the like downwardly into the housing space in the door, and thus to serve to deflect such flow outside and below such space.
These and other objects are contemplated for this invention as will readily appear to one skilled in the art from the following description of one preferred embodiment of this invention.